Casting-machine



R. J. POWELL.

CASTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILI-:b ocT.27. I9I9.

Patented June 1, 1920.

uiuilainV STATES .PMENi-l 1oFric'a-f.

BANSOM JUDD POWELL, 0F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

CASTING-MACHINE. i

To all lwhom it may concern v Be it known that I, RANsoM JUDD Pow- ELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have inventved certain new and useful Improvements in Casting-Machines, of which the followingv on two different axes. For purposes of clarity and brevity in pointing out and referring to the different movements with relation to the two axes, the terms rotation and revolution are employed, the term rotation being employed'in describing the movement of a mold about its own axis, and

the term revolution being employed in de-l scribing the movements of the mold about another axis.

This device is adapted to be used in conjunction with. molds for casting, hollow objects" which are substantially completely closed, and the selected embodiment of the invention here shown is directed to the casting or molding of relatively light-weight articles, such as Statuary, artistic novelties, small figures, toys, etc.

The drawings illustrate molds forv a hollow cast ten-pin and a fruit, such as a peachfalthough the articles or objects to be reproduced may obviously be of a widel range. In the casting of these objects, by

this machine, the material in. more or less liquid state is introduced within a m'old, the

'inner face of which is shaped to conform to the external shape of the object to be produced. The revolution of the mold on'its axisy of revolution, or transverse'axis as it maybe termed, functions to cause the plastic material to travel by gravity, from` end I to end of the mold,as the mold is revolved preferably slowly enough to permit such movement, and not rapidly enou h to ycause the material to be outwardly orced and held against the outer end of the mold, by centrifugal force. Similarly, rotation Vof the mold on its longitudinal axis causes the plastic material to be distributed over the on' two different axes.

j Specification of Letters Patent. i l Patented J 111131; 1920.` Application med october. 27, i919. serial No. 333,605.

lateral portions ofthe moldl as'the mate-l' rial travels from end to end of the'mold interior. 'Ihel resultant travel of the plastic material, while inthe process of setting or hardening in this mold, is theoretically a spiral course. It has been found preferable to cause the mold to rotate faster than it revolves, in other words, to turn faster on its longitudinal axis than on its transverse axis. This results in the generation of some centrifugal force to overcome in Isome degree the 'gravitational force and thereby tending to hold the settingmaterial against vthe longitudinal sides as it travels gravitationaly back and forth responsive to revolution of the mold on its transverse axis. While ,the ratio'of rotation to revolution may be varied Within wide limits,

such ratio, in the case of the objects here illustrated, is preferably .four to one.

An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a machine for casting hollow objects. i'

Another object is to provide a machine for casting hollow ob'ects which are substantially completely closed.

Other objects of the inventiony will more fully appear from the following detailed description and the Aaccompanying, drawings and will be pointed out in the annexed fclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, there has been disclosed a structure designed to carry out. the objects of the invention, but it is to be understoodthat the invention is not confined to the exact' features shownv as various changes maybe made within its reasonable scope. l

In the drawings: l

Figure lis a yView in side elevation of the machine;

Fig. 2 is al section on the line 2-2 vof Fig. 1, theplastic material being shown as formed and set;

Fig. 3 is a section on the Fig. 1;

In the selected embodiment of the invention, there is provided the novel .combination of'object-forming4 molds, together with means for simultaneously turning the molds hile a single mold may be" so lacti'1ated,'it is desirable in the interest of uniform quantity production to so mount a plurality of molds. A simple means of achieving this result is to mounta line 3-3 of -tudinall limits s ownv between the hub of the gearrevoluble driven element such as a shaft 1 upon suitable bearings in standards 2. This shaft 1 is revolubly driven by means of a driven pulley 3 loosely 'mounted on 'fthe shaft l and positioned b the ide vcollar 4. The' pulley bears teet 5 a apted to be enga ed by teeth 6 on a clutch member 7 keye to the shaft 1 a-nd slidable axially thereon by means of the lever 8. l/Vhen the clutch is movedto the left of the' position shown in fFi 2, the teeth 5 and 6 interen age andt e shaft is revolved.

revoluble member is mounted fast upon the shaft 1. In this preferred form such member is wheel-shaped and consists of a hub 9 secured to the shaft and revoluble therewith by means ofthe bolt .10. The.I

spokes or arms 11 radially extend therefrom and terminally are provided each with a bearing portion 12. Each mold-carrying container or flask 13 is borne by a stud shaftto each mold, a master gear 16 Iis fixedly.

secured to theI standard 1 by means ofthe sleeve 17. The teeth of each mold pinion .15 mesh with and travel over the teeth of the fixed gear 16. Thus, as the shaft 1 revolves the molds revolve therewith and are laxially rotated, while revolving, by .their pinion and gear engagement. As' here shown, each mold is rotated on itsaxis by its pinion four times during one revolution ofl the mold about the shaftl A simple means of increasing 0r reducing this ratio is b the substitution of pinions'having a smal er or lar er number of teeth. To accommodate di erent sized pinions, the hub 9 is longishifted on the shaft 1 within the 16 and the ide 4. i

Each flas 13 is' hollow to receive a mold 18 formed of any suitable substance. In the internal face shaped to conform to the con.

i figuration of the article to be produced. T e

mold is externallyI shaped to fit the flask interior, so ,that relative movement between the mold and container or fiask during operation is obviated. In the fiask s hown at the top inthe drawings the mold completely fills the fiask interior, while another form is shown at the bottom. In the peach mold at the bottom,'the sides of the mold converge radially inwardly and the similarly shaped external portions of the mold cannot move toward the axis of revolution. Each fiask is preferably provided with a cover 20, hingedly secured to the flask side and seplastic armed device has been found to work well in practice.

It should be noted that in the 'practising of this invention, in connection withthe material and mold shapes here mentioned, that a too rapid revolution of the 'shaft causes `the generation of a centrifugal force which functionsl to force the plastic material outwardl against the radial end of the mold and to e ect its retention thereat and thereby to prevent its even distribution.

It is desirable'thatgravity be permitted to cause the material to travel in the plane of the radius of the-shaft from end to end of the mold. Preferably the molds are relathe material may have some tendency to be held by centrifugal force against the axial faces of the mol It will be obvious to one skilled -in this art that some plastic materials require more centrifugal force than tively more rapidly rotated `in order that others and that, too, the variance in theform of the objects necessitates a variation -in the force resultant from this novel combination of centrifugal forces and gravitational force. The proportion of the vcentrifugal force of revolution-is directly variable with-the pulley speed while the proportion of the centrifugal force lof rotation lis` variable by the substitution of different pinions as above noted, which results in the change of speed of mold-rotation ywith relation to the speed of revolution.

Having thus described my invention, what .I claim as new andvdesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a machine for the casting of hollow I objects, 'the combination of a revoluble member, a plurality of arms radially extending therefrom, a mold carrying means' rotatably mounted'on each radially extending arm in axial alinement therewith, and means to engage each mold carrying means to cause all moldsto berotated Iupon the revolutionl of said member.

2.. In a machine for the casting of hollow objects, the combination'of a standard, an

elementv revolubly borne ,by said standard,

a 'plurality oflmembers extendin therefrom and movable therewith, a mo d carrying means rotatably mounted on each member, ,andv means carried by the standard and adapted to engage each mold carrying means to cause all said molds to be rotated upon the revolution of said element.

3. Ina machine for the casting of hollow mounted on said revoluble element, a gear ixedly' securedto said standard, a pinion secured to each mold carrying means, said pinions engaging said gear whereby when the molds are revolved about the axis of said element, each mold is simultaneously rotated. i

4. In a machine for the casting of hollow objects, the combination of a revoluble member, an object-forming mold rotatablyY carred by said member, means to cause the simultaneous rotation of the mold and revolutions of the member, and means whereby the ratio of rotation to revolution may be varied.

5. In a machine for the casting of hollow objects, the combination of a revoluble member, a plurality of arms extending therefrom', a mold-carrying means rotatably mounted on each extending arm and means to engage each -mold-carrying means to cause all molds to be rotated upon the revolution of said member.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set A my hand this 21st day of October` 1919. 

